Aeroplane



Nov. 25/1930. R. H. OMASSEY 1,782,818

AEROPLANE 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Aug. 15, 1929 Nov. 25, 1930 R. H. OMASSEY 1,782,878

AEROPLANE Filed Aug. 15, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 fiic'iard 2 Midday *5 m f is Q an manic;

NOV. 25, 1930. I OMASSE Y 1,782,878

AEROPLANE Filed Aug. 15, 1929 s Sheets-Sheet 3 gwuentoz jz'cdwd Maadey,

Patented N v. 25, 1 930 itiCI-IAItD otmssisi, or nEnvEit,.,coLonAnb, Assmnoaoa one-H L To ma PAT N Y IC qimmaer maven, concerto n'nitornann I Application filed August s, 1929. Serial ito. 386,014.

This invention relates to improvements in larly to an aeroplane of theft'andem type.

Ithasbeen found that tandem aeroplanes have been more'or less ineflicient, due to the fact that the rear wings, which have usually been locatedon the same level as the front wings, had to work in the doWnwashfrom the frontwings'and therefore their lifting effect was a great deal less than the lifting eifectof the front wingsor. planes. I

It is an object of this invention to produce a tandemaeroplaiie having a plurality of pl'anes extending; from the opposite sides of the fuselage :bodyand spaced longitudi nally thereof, and inwhich the separate sets of planes shall be solocated vertically with respect to each other that therear plane's will be located above the downwaslrfroin the planes-in front andtherefore the different sets of planes will beequally effective for lifting. a p

It is another object of this invention to producean aeroplane which shall be soconstructed that itwill risevery rapidly from the groundfland which canbe slowed down in landing so that it is possible to start and land from a much smaller field than thatusually required by aeroplanes of ordinary construction- It is a still further object of this invention to producean aeroplane that shall be provided with a c'oinbined'elevating and stabilizing device which will greatly retardithe tendency of the; plane togo into a tailspin and into nosedives and therefore make the plane'inuch saferinoperation. *1 a The above and other objects that may becolneappar ent as the description proceds r invention;

this

i 3 is a transverse section taken on line J aeroplanes and has reference more particul 3+3, Fig. 2;

. }:Fig. 4 is a plan View of thedualpitch propellr. which lift;

. Fig. 5 is a section takenon line 5 5; Fig; 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectiontaken on line-6 -6. Fig. 4 ;y

is used for producing a direct a Fig. is a sidejview similar} to thatshowii inFig. 2, but showsjmyinvention applied to a tandem plane ofthe monoplane type.

struction and which is f provided at its. nose with a tractor propeller 2. Therear endof the fuselage is provided with a rudder 3. and a rudders 4 which controlfthe-up and down inovementofthe plane. Secured tothe bot tom of the fuselage are two, frames represented by reference numerals 5 and 6 and to the lower ends of which the'landing wheels 7 are fastened. In the embodiment-shown in Figsl and 2 theaeroplane is ofthe tandem biplane type,- and has secured to each side near the. front end two pairs of1biplanes" which have been designated by reference numeral 8. A propeller 9 is secured to the planes on each side of the fuselage and are connected with motors 10 by whichthey are rotated; Secured to the rear efthefuselage is another assembly of biplanes; in which the lower plane extends outwardly at a poiht .which is slightly above thetop of the upper plane in thefront' assembly and the Upper plane of the rear plane assembly; which has been designatedby ,referencenumeral 11 extends entirely across the fuselage in the nianner shown in Fig. 1: i

In additionto the vertically spaced arrangenient of thep'lane assembly, my improvedgaeroplane is provided with an elevator whichhas been indicated by reference numeral 12 and which is located: above the fuselage at a point substantially midway between the two sets ofplanes; or perhaps more definitely speaking, it is located above the center of mass of the entire plane. This ele;

vator is secured to the'fusel'age by means of supports or braces 13 which have been more or less diagrammatically indicated in the i 7 drawing. This elevator is preferablyeireu- 7 (so 7 In thedrawingreferencenumerallrepresents the fuselage which is of ordinary con- 7) LIA tral opening, which has been indicated by 7 reference numeral 15. The side walls 16 of this opening are spaced a short distance from the inside of the outer walls of the fuselage so as to provide passages 17 through which passengers may go from the front opening to the rear thereof. The floors 18 being located a short distance above the lower ends of the passages. The upper and lower ends of the double walls surrounding opening are pointed so as to give a stream line effect. Secured to thewalls 16 are brackets 19 on which a whirlwind motor 20 is supported. The driveshaft 21 carries a dual pitch propeller 22. Th-is'propeller has been shown in detail in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, from which it will be seen that it consists of four blades making an angle of ninety degrees with each other, and each blade i s'formed of two sections or parts, the inner of which has been designated by letter A and the outer by B. Section A has been shown in transverse section in Fig. 5 from which it will be seen that the lower surface 23 is downwardly and rearwardly inclined, while the upper surface is upwardly and rearwardly inclined. The upper surface, which has been indicated by 24 is dish-shaped, or concave so that when the propeller is rotating it will impart to the air an upward direction in the manner indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5. Each, propeller blade has rear edge 25 that is connected with the upper point 26 by means of an inclined surface 27, so as to give a stream line effect and thereby prevent the formation of a vacuum at the rear of the blade. It will be seen from Figs. 4-, 5 and 6, that when the propeller is rotated, in a counterclockwise d rection. as indicated by the arrows, that the inclined curved surface 24. will cause the air to be directed upwardly, and as this part of the propeller is located directly beneath the opening in the elevator. it will produce a flow of air upwardly in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 3. and at the same time, the under surface of the propeller will produce a downward flow of air, part of this downwardly flowing air will pass through opening 15, and part will pass downwardly along the outside of the fuselage, in the manner indicated in Fig. 3. When the aeroplane is in motion, there is a strongcurrent of air flowing rearwardly above the elevator 12, and, therefore, the stream of air that flows upwardly through the opening in the elevator, will be turned rearwardly when it oins with the air currents above the impeller and the action of these two streams of air will form a low air pressure above the elevator and at the same time the air that strikes the under surface of the elevator will produce an increased air pressure on the lower side and the effect of this unbalanced air pressure on the upper and lower sides of the elevator, produces the lifting effect that is very effective in assisting the aeroplane to rise from the ground, and also makes it possible to greatly slow down the speed in landing and therefore, the effect of this elevator, is to make it feasible to rise from and land on much smaller fields than would be possible without this additional feature.

The elevator besides being of great use in starting and landing, has also a great stabilizing effect, as it produces an action similar to that which would be produced by a balloon or other body lighter than air, and therefore it has a tendency to prevent nosedives and tailspins, and this makes it much safer for travel than if it did not have this additional feature.

In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown my aeroplane as having two ormore sets if biplanes, but it is equally well adapted to tandem planes of the monoplane type, such as shown in Fig. 7

Although the invention has been shown and described in connection with a tandem aeroplane, it is equally well adapted for use with the ordinary plane construction as the elevator can then be located nearer the front of the fuselage, as the center of gravity naturally would be nearer the front on a shorter fuselage and I therefore do not want to limit myself to the use of the elevator and direct lift propeller in connection with a tandem aeroplane but consider that my invention covers the use of this additional feature in combination with aeroplanes of any specific type.

I want to call particular attention to the dual pitch propeller which, I believe, is entirely new, and which when employed in the combination shown, produces new and useful results, and which imparts to the aeroplane a stability which is of great practical importancc.

Having described the invention what I claim as new is:

1. A tandem plane having an elongated fuselage, oppositely extending planes secured to the fuselage and spaced longitudinally thereof, the fuselage having a vertical open ing located between the first two sets of planes, an elevating propeller located above the opening and rotatable about a vertical axis, and an elevating surface located above the elevating propeller, said surface having an opening concentric with the propeller.

2. An aeroplane having an elongated fuselage provided with a vertical opening,*planes extending from opposite sides of the fuselage,

a substantially circular elevator located above the opening lnfthe fuselage, sald elevator be ing concave on its upper side and convex. on

its under side and provided with a central .yflange, and a tractor opening, a propeller located between the fuselage and theunder surface of the elevator,"

and means for rotating the propeller. u

3. An aeroplane having an elongated fuse lage provided with a vertical opening extending from the top to the bottom thereof, a dual pitch propeller located above the'upper end L of the opening and rotatable about an axis substantially coincident with the axisof the opening, means for rotating the propeller, an

' .elevator located above the propeller, said elevator being concave on its upper side and convex on its lower side, means for securing the elevator to the fuselage, the elevator having a central opening concentric with the tends upwardly and forms a cylindrical nose of the fuselage. g

4. In'an aeroplane having an elongated fuselageprovided at its front end with a tractor propeller, at its rear endwith horizontal and vertical rudders and on its sides with tandem planes located at different vertical levels, a direct lift propeller locatedabove the fuselage and between the first two sets of planes, the fuselage'having an opening directly beneath the propeller, an elevator located above the direct lift propeller, said elevator having its under surface convex and 1 its upper surface concave and means for rotating the propeller. 5. In an aeroplane having a fuselage pjro vided at its front end with atractor propeller 1 fuselageand the elevator, said propeller bepropeller secured to the 1 elevator being concave and the lower surface convex, the elevator having a central opening which isbounde'd by a flange that pro ects above the upper surfaceof the elevator, a dual pitch propeller located between the fuselage and the elevator, said propeller being rotatablel about a vertical axis, the outer ends of the propeller blades directing the air downwardly and the central portions directing the air upwardly.

In testimony whereof I aifixmy signature. RICHARD H. OMASSEY.

i propeller, the opening havinga wall that exing mounted for rotation about a vertical 7 axis, the fuselage having an opening directly below the propeller, and means for rotating the propeller, the blades of the propeller having two different pitches, that part adjacent the center being curved to blow air upwardly through the opening in the elevator surface and the outer ends being curved to blow air '5 downwardly.

6. In an aeroplane having an elongated .fuselage provided with laterally extending wings and with a vertical opening, a circular elevator located above the opening and secured to the fuselage, the upper surface of the Elf) 

